It's Soooo Cold

The wind is awful in our little valley. So cold and raw. We missed the foot of snow the coastal storm dumped on the east coast. Don't know how we got so lucky. I knew better than to start the fire this morning as the downdrafts would be awful. Not sure that was a good idea. When I got home at 5 the stove was ice cold, the pipe frozen, and no matter how much kindling and paper I used - with the propane starter - black smoke poured out of the stove. Took a half hour to get it going, with the doggies waiting to go out. When I finally got them out Pip's new, longer leash got tangled around my legs and I dropped the loop. He's somewhere out there in this frigid weather dragging that line. If it gets caught he will be a Pipsicle. Got the bottles mixed and will get some water out to the sheep before I start dinner. Had to stop and get something in New Berlin. This grocery thing is ridiculous. Tired after a long day and I'm hauling bags up the milk room steps, through the barn, dodging sheep and cats, into the apartment. All my life I've spent too much money on food. My kids grew up big and strong, thankfully, but now I've got a great big kid who likes his delicious, nutritious hot meal served up every night, piping hot, with some variety, lots of greens, and not too much chicken. Whoops, I hope that wasn't a snarky remark. Better get out to the sheep. They are even more thirsty when it's bitter cold like this. It's the dryness of the air I think. More steriod and ivermectin for Chris tonight. I can get one shot in him if Matt holds his neck and I lean him into the wall with my body, while parting the thick hair and finding the right bare spot behind his front leg. I got the Dexamethesone into him yesterday alright but he jumped and stomped with the second shot, the ivermectin, which would kill the parasite in his spine, hopefully, and the needle came out without getting the whole barrel in. Have to repeat it tonight. Please, someone, just shoot me now. (Not the llama, just shoot me.)

A Cozy Bed

The doggies love when I play with wool on the floor in front of the fire. I usually have to pull the wool out from under them. Better than having the rug pulled out from under them, wouldn't you say?

Dye Pots are Bubbling

I'm not the only one who has been busy dyeing. Carol Crayon Box in Freeville likes microwave dyeing. She had some Romney roving made but thought the grey was a little dull. Look what she did with some Cushings, plastic bags, vinegar and a microwave. What a stunning picture on a dark winter's day. No wonder we crave color - it brightens our lives.

Sunday Cold and Crisp

18F. and a coastal storm is headed for Pa. and NJ. 12 to 20 inches??? Good luck! We will get some snow showers, enough to cover the melt of last week. The sheet of ice on the driveway remains. That's where I walk the dogs, so I make tiny baby steps everywhere. Mia tells me stories of subdural hematomas and even broken femurs from ice falls. No, thanks, no broken bones and I am confused enough as it is without any hematomas floating around in my head. I can't walk the dogs on the northside, as that is where the White Boys live and Thor still wants to kill Pip. I had Pip neutered, thinking that would help, but Thor has a long memory. Thor knows that Pip lives in the barn apt. but as long as he doesn't see Pip we're okay. I am salvaging yet another cotted fleece. Cotting happens when rain makes the wool wet and the heat from the sheep causes felting. If only the top is felted I can snip off the tips and pull apart the rest of the lock. Often the fleece looks nasty on top but underneath is a lovely white crimpy sheet of wool. OH, I just love to run my fingers through it. It's Sunday morning and I'm in my flannel nightie. I got a nice cold rush a minute ago while giving Larry and Lester their bottles. Larry's tail did not drop off so I examined it last night. I decided to snip off the withered part underneath the band. Treated the stump with Betadine and gave him an antibiotic so we should be okay. I'm trying to gear myself up mentally to catch Chris and give him the shots. This won't be easy, but llamas are intelligent and know when you are trying to help them. But for now I will sit in front of the wood stove and play with fleece a little while longer, have another cup of coffee and gaze up the hill.

Very Distressing

Chris (Christmas Surprise) is my big red/brown llama. Tonight we noticed he is a little unsteady on his back legs. One leg looks weak. This is exactly how Breeze started his decline into paralysis due to meningeal worm. The parasite, carried by snails, is then eaten by deer and spread everywhere in their droppings. With the marshy areas of my land, and all the deer passing through, we are always at risk. Dr. Rachel was not on call this weekend, but her partner, Dr. Johnson, called right back. He told us what to give him and I have the meds - Dexamethasone, a steroid, and ivermectin, a wormer. This will not be easy. Chris is semi-wild, perfect for a guard llama who roams the land with the flock, but not easy for giving shots. I had a catch pen for Chris and Breeze at the last place we lived, but the catch pens never got built here. We'll make one in the barn tomorrow and lure him in with corn. He needs shots every day for the next four days. My experience has been that when an animal is symptomatic it's too late. The worm crawls up the spinal cord and cripples the animal. It still hasn't hit me yet. We've been blissfully free of vet calls this winter, with minimal lambing and nobody real sick. Dr. Johnson said llama people worm every month, but everything I've been told says that builds a resistance to the wormer. Chris is the King of the Farm. I don't want to think of losing him - I'm still missing Breeze, his little white brother, the one the lambs and kids climbed on all the time. I bought them when they were living in the front yard of a llama breeder in NJ. She had 29 llamas in her yard around the house. Chris and Breeze had a tiny spot with hard, bare earth by the road with no shade. It took me two years to get them out of hock. When I finally brought them home to the field I rented, they were afraid to come out of the small training paddock I kept them in. The wide open spaces terrified them. Here, and at the last farm, they had fields, streams, ponds and apple orchards...llama heaven.

Day Flying By

We managed to get out in time to get the mail in town on the way to Louis Gale's feed mill. I get cracked corn and egg layer in 100 sacks at 50% savings from all other places around here. Waterville is closer to New Hartford than we are so I asked Matt if we run up there. I needed Sculpey and Fimo clay for bag buttons and thread from Jo-Ann's. I get a discount there with my teacher's union card. I go through thread like crazy, and when the doggies get a spool and chew it up I am extremely annoyed. One bite and it won't unroll right. Anyway, the weather is bright and beautiful, cold and crisp, and it was a perfect day for a ride. I ducked into B&N and was happy to find my February British Country Living. It's full of bulb planting, pig raising and nifty recipes on how to use those bits of leftover cheese from the Welsh Farmhouse section. She's the lady who plucks her own pheasants before roasting them...something I have thought about with my little Olde English chickens (and decided against). I bought Matt the latest Fine Homebuilding which has energy saving building articles that he can talk about in the office. He's so into his new career at NY State Weatherization, and very excited about teaching at the Allen Center, a juvenile corrections facility, next week, with the intention of taking some graduates into the weatherization field. He's a little overwhelmed, with four new trainers he has to train. The Obama admin. has increased the NY State weatherization budget from $100 million to $500 million. Now they have to use their windfall or lose it, and that takes planning. I could use some weatherization on this barn, but we make too much money to qualify. Next week the time changes again, signalling the arrival of spring. The time will fly and I'll be lying on my back in the middle of my hill soon, star gazing with sheep all around me. What heaven. Speaking of sheep, I'm needed in the barn.

Snowin' and Blowin'

It's cold, snowy and very windy outside. The sun peaks through the clouds once in a while illuminating the hill rising up from the north side of the barn. It's very beautiful but I want to stay inside. I like being warm and sitting on the sofa with my dogs up against me and a big fleece spread out on the floor in front of me. It's Saturday and I'm playing with my wool in front of the wood stove. With the downdrafts and wood to big for the stove I have been having fits all morning getting the wood to burn. My eyes are stinging from the smoke and I'm tired of bending over the stove with a blow torch. But the warmth can't be duplicated by the electric heaters, and besides, I owe my soul to the electric company- again. The State made me remove the hay above me and there's no insulation up there. Long story and I've made up my mind to not even think about it until I can do something about it. I have to start shipping runs to the carding mill to be ready for Maryland. It's so much work, but still a joy for me to run my fingers through the buttery soft fibers. I'm trying to get the dyed fiber dry after running those pots for a week while I was off. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Matt got the dogs out 'cause he slept with his clothes on, too tired to change. The sheep have hay from last night but I'm sure they need water. I'm resisting getting dressed, as I have to rush out of here every morning to work, and it's just so nice to linger in my flannel granny gown, drinking coffee and munching on toast. I have to get into town to get my mail before Barb closes the window at 10:45 (!?) New Berlin stays open 'til 12 but my mail goes to Brookfield. I should change my address to get rural delivery but I don't want to spell "West E-d-m-e-s-t-o-n" to everybody, which is where my mail really comes out of. They told me I was moving to Brookfield and that's what I got in my head. I'm almost finished sorting a lovely black fleece that was full of burrs but was very savable. Can't wait to see these runs when they've been carded. Oh, what a Motherlode of roving for me to sell over the summer and fall season. After all, I am in the wool business.

Mercifully, It's Over

What a long, tedious week it was at school. Glad it's over. So many weird vibes, kids acting out, etc. Hoping it gets better next week. Warm and rainy all day, windy and cold tonight. I stopped and bought fish and chips for dinner at the local market but Matt was too tired to eat when he got home. He went comatose on the sofa and I did chores with Holly and Izzy keeping me company, along with the cast of hundreds. I love hanging with the sheep, goats, kitties and chickens in the barn. Hard to get lonely. Everybody looks happy and healthy. No surprise lambs - maybe they are just fat on the new second cut hay. Checking udders all the time - nobody bagged up. The girls don't like me sneaking in from behind doing a quick squeeze, but the sneaky reach is the only way I can do it without them taking off. Here it is, 11 at night, and I just finished chores. I'm spreading out wool to dry and heating up the fish and chips. The gusty wind is causing the fire to back puff and fill the apt. with black smoke. The empty hay mow is creaking in the wind. I'm going to pick another fleece, watch Bill Mahre, then Jay Leno while I sort through this lovely black fleece, then take my doggies to bed. Nighty-night.

Taste of Spring

The temp soared to 50 F. here today. The sun pours into the windows of the wing I work in, giving a false sense of warmth outside at times. Today it was real. Bikini weather here in upstate New York. I got home and promptly fell asleep in the driveway when I turned the key off. Glad I stopped to get the NY Times on the way home. I love that paper. There are all kinds of human interest articles I enjoy. The Home section today had an interesting article on outdoor fireplaces, a great idea. We always have bonfires in the summer when Hannah and Luke are here. I would like to build a sturdy fire ring, perhaps with concrete and stone, and run a gas line to it. Sure would make it easier when I don't have the Young Ones to run around and gather wood. There was also a very informative article about toilet paper. Matt and I have a running dialogue about potty paper. He likes the softest variety, which, the NY Times explains, has to come from standing trees, not recycled paper. I argue that coarser paper does a better job of keeping you clean and remind him of the pre-toilet paper method of wiping - the corn cob! I never experienced the corn cob approach to hygiene, but I did travel to the wilds of northern Finland where the common paper offered for that purpose was an old Sears catalogue or telephone book. Matt shudders at the idea. I thought it worked just great. Anyway, now I know the paper I've been buying, Scott, manufactured by Kimberly Clark, is not a green toilet paper and is sometimes made from old growth American forests. OH! What have I done??? Marcal is 100% recycled and has just come back from near-bankruptcy. I'll have to buy some tomorrow and listen for moans and groans coming from the Thunderbox when Matt does his business.

Whoosh!

Sliding down the other side of the hump to the weekend. This week feels like it went on forever due to everything going on at Total Drama School. Woke up before 5, think it was a kitty playing with my hair. Matt was getting up about that time anyway and maybe I was anticipating his leaving early. Anyway, I will pay today about 1 o'clock when I want to lie down on the floor and take a nap. Not very cold this morning but I lit the fire anyway. I made porridge (Cream O' Wheat) for Matt and the kitties, made lamb bottles, got the foamy coffee done and fixed his travel cup as usual. He's going to Otego, around Binghamton somewhere, to teach a "Lead Safe" course. This lead issue is very interesting. Lead poisoning leads to learning disabilities among other things and is rampant among the poor because they don't have the money to take care of their homes, or landlords don't bother because the tenants are poor. Okay, it's 6 am now and I want to go back to bed but I don't dare. I would wake up at 8:30 when I should be at work already. I'll recline in the bath tub, soak my shoulder (which is much better, thank you SHARON for the meds and the home made corn kernel heat pack - it's great!!) and wake up when the water gets cold. I hope.

Ash Wednesday or Crash Wednesday?

I did not see a single ash on a forehead today. In New Jersey the ashy foreheads were everywhere. Very interesting...we are indeed in a predominantly Protestant area. I was explaining to a student today that the word "protestant" comes from the time when Martin Luther and others were protesting against the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. He looked surprised and delighted as he could relate to anything having to do with protest. That was the high point of an otherwise difficult day. I don't feel comfortable discussing particulars of what goes on in school but suffice it to say this week just gets weirder and weirder. A few of us teachers got together in one classroom after school to share events of the day and just laughed so hard we cried. What else can you do? It was a great stress reliever. I didn't feel like stopping for groceries after work so I ordered some take out from the teacher's buffet. You check what you want, they pack it up for you, and you pick it up as you leave for the day. I checked tuna melt, veggies, etc. and went back to work for the afternoon. Wouldn't you know with all the excitement of the day I forgot to pick it up. I got two miles away, stopped and drove back to school, parked and went in to get my food. No food. They had run out and couldn't fill anyone's orders. Oh, joy. Pancakes for dinner!!

Zero Tonight

Cold tonight but tomorrow will bring a reprieve with temps in the 40's they say. Have two pots of dyed fiber on the dye stove in the milk room that need to be dumped. Matt did all the chores the last two nights with me trying to get this muscle pull healed. Didn't have the heart to ask him to do my dye work too. Don't think the alpaca in one and wool in the other will be harmed by soaking in dye for three days. The color might even be better. I took a chance and left a table full of dyed wool on the kitchen table to dry on a sheet while I went to work. I have a back log of wet fiber waiting to be laid out to dry. Wouldn't you know the whole business was on the kitchen floor when I got home. I lined up the dogs and cats and interrogated them but no confessions. I bet someone took a leap up on the table and everything slid off. OH, WELL. Hope the dog hair comes out when it's carded. I had a felter tell me my fiber was a bit hairy once. I didn't understand at first then I realized she meant a fiber other than the wool, angora, mohair or alpaca. I'm leaving mohair out of the four new runs. Don't have any shorn and I fear it will be too coarse. I subbed alpaca instead. I'll do a coarse mohair run over the summer - good for warps, rugs, or sock yarns. School was okay today, always some kind of drama with the population I work with.

Real Cold and Windy

Got to work okay due to Jeep being automatic - couldn't have worked a shift with my pulled shoulder muscle - and the Advil I got at the gas station. Will have to get another bottle on the way to work tomorrow. I will have taken all 24 by then for sure. I'm okay as long as no one touches my upper arm or shoulder and I don't raise my arm at all, or try to lift anything. This has been a good conscientious-raising exercise in disability. Getting dressed this morning was awful. I quickly realized that if just started yelling OW-OW-OW-OW-OW until I was finished I could get through it easier. Poor doggies didn't know what to think. No more lifting heavy gas cans full of water. My job doesn't require any heavy lifting fortunately. It was good to see everybody at work. I complain a lot about getting there but once I'm there I like who I spend the day with. Storm blowing off the lake all day. Real cold. The faucet froze in the milk room while I was at work. Matt has to attach a hose to the well pump to get water for the sheep. Sheep will eat snow to an extent but goats don't like to and the bunnies need water in their cages. Will have to leave a drip on in the apt. tonight. I'm going to soak my shoulder in the bathtub, with hot water this time, and get to bed early, although sitting up feels the most comfortable. Wish I had some muscle relaxers/anti-inflammatories but the last time I called the orthopedic group in Hamilton they told me three months for an apt. This is not Morris County New Jersey with docs at every corner.

Miserable

The pulled muscle in my shoulder kept me up most of the night. Aspirin won't touch it. I gave up on sleep and went to my bath to soak in hot water but someone left the water heater off in the milk room when he ran the dryer and forgot to turn it back on. And it's wash hair day times two. The cold water didn't do anything for this injury. I can't brush my hair or pull my pants up. This is really going to be a great day. There is a nasty storm going on outside with horizontal snow and howling winds. What a lovely day to go back to work but it suits my mood. I'll get in my ancient Jeep and pray it doesn't break down or go off the road on one of the hills I go up and down on the way to Norwich. I know this is all my own doing but please, someone explain to me how I got in this situation.

Did I Miss One?

I have testicles on my mind this morning. No, not those kind of testicles. They are a distant memory, thank the Goddesses. I'm thinking about ram testicles. I have several pregnant sheep and, for the life of me, I can't think of how it happened. We took the rams out last August, and whenever we found a wether (neutered male sheep) we tossed him in with the rams to give more food to the ewes. I wonder if I missed a testicle when I put the bands on? I always make sure I have a hold on both when I put the band on. If I can't pull both testicles down through the elastrator (the device that spreads the band apart) I wait until the lamb is a little older, to give them a chance to drop down. If one stays up the lamb can still impregnate a ewe. Did I screw up? Something happened. I thought that my purebred ram, Wooster, who is light and athletic, might have jumped the fence...but as Matt pointed out, why would he jump back in with the other rams if he made it to Nirvana? Matt says they are not pregnant, and the tummies are full of this good second cut hay. I hope so.

Up Early

Jackie woke me up at 5, scratching and banging on the door to the bedroom which had somehow closed during the night. Once I'm awake I can rarely get back to sleep. I forced myself to lie there anyway for a few minutes and ponder the past week and the week to come. Scary to think too far beyond. I tried to turn over and my right arm screamed don't move. I am devastated that when I need to do the most with my body it is not cooperating. The bales are heavier now and all this work with wool, pulling the fused locks apart, is using muscles I didn't know I had. I think it will take a while for the condroitin to work and I need more Advil. Better start using those Yoga videos Gretchen gave me. I have dyed a red run, a yellow run, a natural colored run and have started on a blue run. It will take a couple of weeks to get it all dried and will cost a bit of $$ to get it shipped to the carding mill. They will run it through their machines, blending the various subordinate colors with the main color, and bring it to me at Md. Sheep and Wool, saving shipping on the tail end. I have so much black wool, which I love blended with little bits of color, but I'm going for a brighter, colored booth this year. I hope I can sweet talk Beasty Boy into building me some shelves for the booth. He did help me yesterday with getting Baby Jane and her mother ready to leave their pen. I nuzzled and loved on that baby for a few minutes before putting her down. I may never catch her again! Now they are loose in the barn, with little Jane screaming for her mom whenever she ventures away. I got several German angoras sheared. OH, what a miracle fiber it is, and adds such softness and color interest to my roving. I hope Kimmie Cornerstone brings some to Maryland (hint, hint) as I can never have enough, even with all my bunnies. Cold and snowing outside but in here we are warm by the fire. I lit candles, too. Still pulling at the wool for the cobalt blue run. Glad I had all those dyes left over from last season. I buy them by the pound now - saves a lot of money. After this dye jag is over I'll get back to bags and soap. I never run out of things to do.

Happy Birthday Twin Stars

When AJ and Mia were little the Twin Stars characters were popular, along with Hello Kitty and Cabbage Patch dolls. AJ's dolls were Marty Ty and Patton Cyril. Mia had a little black Cabbage Patch doll and I can't remember her name - I'm sure Mia can, that girl has an encyclopedic memory (for good and bad). AJ also had an Annie doll, which, tragically, lost her head in a freak accident (perpetrated by big brother Eric). I sewed it back on and AJ had his doll back. I have a picture somewhere of him giving her a great big kiss. When I find it I'm going to get it scanned and put it online. Won't he be thrilled! I could go on and on... At this time in 1980 I was resting after a night of labor and a twin birth that was 40 minutes apart. The USA Hockey Team was about the beat the Russians and the game was on TV in my hospital room. I thought my twins would come out holding on to each other, like those biblical twins (Jacob and Esau?) but no such luck. AJ stayed in and said no way, I'm not coming out there. Dr. Elizabeth Coultas, a bent-over (from delivering thousands of babies) older lady, a farmer with no social life other than her practice, (I didn't want a C-section just so the Dr. with tickets for the ballet could get going on time), with very small hands (I sat next to her at a dinner party and took notice of her tiny hands and forearms and said that's the doctor for me!), decided that she was going to make this birth complete and pulled him out. Did I say it was the longest 40 minutes of my life? I was to do the same thing years later with sheep, and I think of how it hurts every time I do it. (None of us had any anaesthesia.) Now they are all grown up, healthy, strong, smart and beautiful. Mia had to work a 12-hour shift at the hospital today, but Andrew is taking her skiing in Vermont next weekend. Mia met AJ and some fellow seminarians for dinner in White Plains last night. The future priests had spent the day in Atlantic City, gambling in the casinos (doesn't sound right, does it?) then motored back to NY to celebrate with Mia and Andrew. Wish I could have been there. AJ organized a chapter of Midnight Run, an organization that takes cold weather clothing to homeless people on the streets of Manhattan late at night when it's the coldest. He's taking his group to the city tonight. That's the kind of kids they are. One in the hospital ward keeping people alive with her angelic touch, and the other ministering to the weak and weary on the frozen pavement. I'm in awe of them.

California Living

It's one adventure after another for Hannah and Luke on the West Coast. Eric sent me this picture of them in their new wetsuits. Summertime on the farm in Central New York is going to be boring compared to their new California lifestyle. How can I compete with the wonders of a Pacific tidal pool?

Cold, Wind and Snow

Got out to the post office in New Berlin to mail some packages. Mia gave me some nicely broken in Dansko clogs and Lands End shoes along with a couple of nifty outerwear vests to send on to Hannah and Annie in Ca. It can be cool in San Francisco in the summer, too. Mailed that along with a soap order to my Dear Friend George in NJ, and another little one to Pa. that came on the Etsy site. Every bar counts. I am starting to feel like this long winter is winding down, then I remind myself that I had a baby goat freeze to death on April 17. Found her stiff when I got home from school. We can have snow as late as May here. The Postma brothers came with a dump truck full of hay. What joy not to have to go pick it up. The elevator cooperated after a moment of sheer terror when I threw the switch and nothing. These bales are much heavier than the elevator is used to and we could only send two up at a time. That made it a longer job in bone chilling wind and horizontal snow. Glad I had the job of sitting in the hay mow making sure the bales were falling down from the track right. What a blessing this new hay is. Giant solid green bales I can hardly get off the ground. The old hay I could carry two, each with one finger. Not much food in those bales, and only a dollar less. I am still figuring out how much of this new second cut to put down, trying to minimize waste. First cut has all the sticks left in it from the previous fall. Second cut only has green, nutritious grass. Have to go get an emerald green dye run spread out and start another pot. OH, I have to feed the BEAST - wood stove - again. If I don't keep the fire roaring I get more downdrafts. Yesterday the alarms were going off all day. My fabrics and wool will smell rather smoky, a unique Centra New York scent!

I Could Get Used to This

I love working around the house in my jammies and getting dressed at 1 in the afternoon. It's snowing and blowing outside but the woodstove has us toasty warm inside. We only had one episode of black smoke filling the apt. due to sudden downdrafts. I am elbows deep in wool, sorting out all the burrs, sticks, matted parts, and salvaging the rest for washing and dyeing. I have two dye pots going, and the washer full of soaking wool. The hardest part, besides finding the time, is getting the fiber dry. The hot summer sun is the best way to do it, but I have to get ready for my first show and have to get the fiber out to the mill for carding. I can only dry one batch at a time on the kitchen table, so I have a back log. While it's drying I seperate locks for faster drying and pick out any chaff that I missed. Right now I'm doing a bright red run, which will be variegated with some brilliant blue angora and emerald green wool, maybe other things, I don't know yet. I get bored with plain roving. People who buy my roving know they are going to get some crazy stuff. In the meantime, I have to figure out how I'm going to cut out bags with all this wool on my cutting table. Oh, to have a big studio with lots of tables! I am still wrapping the patchouli soap. I finished the lemon eucalyptus but have no labels yet. I really need a new printer...as well as a new camera. I borrowed a nice one from school but have to go back to work to get the pictures downloaded. Mia is going to check around where she lives in NJ for good deals on a point and shoot I can carry around the barn. I had a nice one that I think I ruined by carrying it in my sports bra. Now the view finder won't open - sweat maybe? My last one was drowned by a bottle of milk replacer that leaked in my jacket pocket. I am very hard on cameras. Back to the wool...oh, the pungent, earthy smell of it, the feel of it, the different characters of the fleece according to the animal it came from and the quality of the food it ate - I get lost in the crimp and the hours fly by. I guess that's why I'm in the wool business.